Delhi Metro
The Delhi Metro (Hindi: दिल्ली मेट्रो Dillī Meṭro) is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of six lines with a total length of 189.63 kilometres (117.83 mi) with 142 stations of which 35 are underground. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade and underground lines and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock.
Delhi Metro is being built and operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC). As of November 2010, DMRC operates around 2,700 trips daily between 6:00 and 23:00 running with an interval of 2.5 minutes between trains at peak frequency. The trains are mainly of four coaches, but due to increase in passengers numbers, six-coach trains are also added on red line (Dilshad Garden to Rithala), Yellow Line (Jahangirpuri to HUDA city centre), Blue Line (Dwarka sec -21 to Anand Vihar/NOIDA city centre) on the network . The power output is supplied by 25-kilovolt, 50 Hertz alternating current through overhead catenary. The metro has an average daily ridership of 1.5 million commuters,[ and, as of August 2010, had carried over 1.25 billion commuters since its inception.
Planning for the metro started in 1984, when the Delhi Development Authority and the Urban Arts Commission came up with a proposal for developing a multi-modal transport system for the city. The Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in 1995. Construction started in 1998, and the first section, on the Red Line, opened in 2002, followed by the Yellow Line in 2004, the Blue Line in 2005, its branch line in 2009, the Green and Violet Lines in 2010 and the Delhi Airport Metro Express in 2011.
Subsequently, these lines have been extended and new lines are under construction in Phase II of the project.
The Delhi Metro has won awards for environmentally friendly practices from organisations including the United Nations,[120] RINA,[121] and the International Organization for Standardization,[121] becoming the second metro in the world, after the New York City Subway, to be ISO 14001 certified for environmentally friendly construction.[122] Most of the Metro stations on the Blue Line conduct rainwater harvesting as an environmental protection measure.[123] It is also the first railway project in the world to earn carbon credits after being registered with the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism,[124] and has so far earned 400,000 carbon credits by saving energy through the use of regenerative braking systems on its trains.[125]
The Metro has been promoted as an integral part of community infrastructure, and community artwork depicting the local way of life has been put on display at stations.[126] Students of local art colleges have also designed decorative murals at Metro stations,[127] while pillars of the viaduct on some elevated sections have been decorated with mosaic murals created by local schoolchildren.[128] The Metro station at INA Colony has a gallery showcasing artwork and handicrafts from across India,[129] while all stations on the Central Secretariat Qutub Minar section of the Yellow Line have panels installed on the monumental architectural heritage of Delhi.[130]
